Reign of Darkness
by DarkLord1167
Summary: Voldemort now knows the prophecy and he is gathering more and more loyal supporters. He'll stop at nothing to ensure the continued rise of the Dark Order; and that includes recruiting Hermione, Ginny and other familiar faces into his inner circle.
1. Letters and Contemplation

Hermione Granger sat at her desk late on night finishing off the last of her Arithmancy homework and as she rolled up the parchment, she couldn't help but think about the events of a month ago when she along with Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny and Luna went to the Department of Mysteries to rescue Sirius. Of course, the whole adventure turned out to be a trap set by Voldemort; Sirius was never in any danger. Voldemort had tricked Harry into thinking that Sirius was being held against his will to try and remove the prophecy and Harry, being the hero he always was just had to go even when she persuaded him not to. _He never fucking listens to me, he always has to be Mister Courageous! _Hermione thought bitterly. _If he wouldn't have gotten so high strung and just listened! Better still, if he would have gotten off his ass and tried to put some effort into Occlumency; Sirius would still be alive!_ __

Hermione, though still upset with Harry for rushing to judgement and endangering her life as well as others (though she would never tell him) suddenly wondered how he was doing right now. She hadn't heard from him all summer and she thought that he seemed a bit withdrawn the last week or so of term. _Of course he would still be mourning for Sirius _she thought to herself again; _he probably still blames himself for his death. _Hermione snorted when the last thought crossed her mind and she felt sick with herself; but she couldn't help it. Harry was the same way at the end of their fourth year when Voldemort returned, he could not stop blaming himself for Cedric's death. She knew better than that, though; Cedric's death was not his fault, it was Voldemort and Wormtail's fault, he was just being noble when he suggested that they tie for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, there was no way for him to know that it was a portkey; no way at all.

As much as Hermione or anyone else for that matter tried to point this out to him, he would just withdraw and continue on insisting that it was still all his fault somehow. _That's just terrific! So Harry is supposed to be the one who defeats Voldemort once and for all? The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord can't even stop feeling all miserable and sorry for himself for one fucking minute! _Hermione again felt sick with herself as these new thoughts crossed her mind. She had known all about the prophecy and what it exactly meant ever since Dumbledore had told her on the last night of the term; she had insisted on finding out what it was that Voldemort wanted so badly. Hermione was brought out of her thoughts by a knock on her bedroom door; "Hermione, dear? It's getting pretty late; you should get to bed." came the gentle voice of her mother. "Ok, mother; I'm just finishing something up first." "You mean you're not done with your homework already?" joked her mom. "Very funny, see you in the morning!"

Far away from Hermione's bedroom, something sinister was brewing. "My lord, you wanted to see me?" came the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy from behind a solid stone door. "Yes, Lucius; do come in" called Voldemort from his position by the fire. "It seems that you were quite lucky to escape from Azkaban, wasn't it?" "Yes, I must thank you for the timely revolt of the Dementors." said Lucius, now bowing in front of the chair in which Voldemort sat. "It was no problem, for they are our natural allies. Now to business; as you know, you and your fellow minions bungled the plan to get that prophecy which I have desperately been seeking. Do not worry Lucius, I do not blame you. In fact I think I may have found a better solution to our problems and I do believe that I know of a way to further bring about Harry Potter's downfall; as well as garner more supporters. I may have also found an alternate way to learn the prophecy." said Voldemort as he gave his wand a flick. Two blurred images floated in front of the twoand steadily became clearer; Voldemort spoke again. "Lucius, I do believe that you may know these two?" he asked, staring at a mirror image of a sleeping Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger. "The red-haired one is a Weasley; a family of muggle lovers if ever I saw one! The other one is Hermione Granger, a mudblood and a close friend of Harry Potter; but I don't understand, what do these two have to do with anything?" "These two will prove to be key in Mr. Potter's downfall and I believe sooner, rather than later they will provide a great helping hand."

Ginny Weasley lay silently in her bed contemplating over the last month and wondered how she could have talked herself (and Harry) into going with him to the Ministry on such a ludicrous hunch that he had. _He knew that Voldemort was trying to trick him! Didn't Moody say something about a connection between them? What a damn fool Harry was to let himself get tricked! _She thought silently to herself; upstairs, she could hear Ron snoring away and wondered how on Earth he could sleep so soundly and peacefully in times like these. Hermione had told her all about the prophecy that Voldemort had tried so hard to get over the last year and she again began to stare blankly at the ceiling; _it just figures that Harry would be the only one who could defeat Voldemort, he can't even stop feeling so damned sorry for himself. He always feels that everything bad that happens concerning Voldemort is his fault! _Surely she didn't feel remotely sorry for herself after Voldemort had possessed her four years ago, but then again, she didn't know what she was doing. 

"Oi! Are you going to come down for breakfast or are you just going to lie in bed all day?" came Ron's voice the next morning. "Just a moment, Ron. I'll be down in just a minute, let me get dressed." Ginny replied; "Suit yourself" said Ron. _I swear, that brother of mine can be such royal prat sometimes _thought Ginny bitterly. She was abruptly pulled out of her thoughts by a sharp rapping on her window. "It's a bit late for owl post isn't it?" Ginny mused to herself while she walked over to the window to let the owl in. Almost immediately, Ginny sensed that there was something evil about this owl; it could have been that the owl was completely jet black in color or it could have been the way that the owl took a couple of menacing swipes at Ginny's hand as it took flight again out of the open window. As soon as the owl was long gone, Ginny turned over the envelope and her suspicions about that owl were confirmed; the envelope was sealed shut with the Dark Mark. Words utterly failed Ginny at that particular moment; she contemplated on what she should do. Should she tell her father who worked at the Ministry? Should she write to Dumbledore and tell him about this particular post? _This is stupid! _Ginny thought to herself; perhaps the owl had mistakenly delivered another Death Eater's letter. However she turned the envelope over again and got the shock of a lifetime when she saw the address written in black ink: 

_Ms. Virginia Weasley_

_The Burrow_

_Ottery St. Catchpole_

_ This has to be some sick joke; or better or a nightmare! _Ginny thought to herself as she finished getting dressed. She would think about that letter for the time being; she would not touch it. But, the letter or whatever else it might be was addressed to her; she made up her mind as she walked downstairs to breakfast: she would open the letter. Meanwhile, in a little suburb just outside of London, Hermione Granger was awakened by a similar sort of rapping at her window. "Alright, alright! I'm up!" she said irritably as she walked over towards the window with a couple of knuts to pay the owl that delivered the _Daily Prophet. _The only thing was that the owl was not delivering the _Prophet_, in fact; the owl looked nothing like any delivery owl she had ever seen. It was sleek and jet black and had a definite feeling of evil to it. It hooted menacingly and clipped her hands in rather less than a playful motion. "Ouch! That hurt!" cried Hermione as the owl soared imperiously out of her now open bedroom window.

At first, Hermione was not sure as to what she should do. Should she open the letter clutched in her hand or should she write to Dumbledore; she had a very sneaky suspicion that this letter could not be anything good. She looked at the address and saw to her horror that it was addressed to her; she had hoped that the owl had somehow got the letter's recipient mixed up with her somehow. When she turned over the envelope to open it up, she received such a horrible surge of dread and suddenly felt as though she were going to vomit right on her bedroom floor; it was sealed with the Dark Mark. _I have to tell Dumbledore as soon as possible! _Hermione thought to herself, but another feeling of panic shot through her; _I don't even have a fucking owl!!! How in the bloody hell am I supposed to contact Dumbledore? I can't just bloody well pop into the fire either! _Quickly, Hermione got dressed and decided that she would open the letter later. Little did both Ginny and Hermione know that opening the letter as they had planned would completely turn their lives around forever.

"Ginny! Oh, there you are; I was starting to wonder if you would ever come down to breakfast." Mrs. Weasley said while embracing Ginny in a tight, motherly hug. "Mum, get off; I'm fine!" Ginny snapped rather harsher than she had intended; "sorry, mum; I've just been in a bad mood." she quickly apologized. "Oh dear; it's ok. I know you're still a little bit upset about Sirius's death, but it will all be ok." stated Mrs. Weasley sympathetically. _It just figures that she would miss the point entirely! _Ginny thought to herself _ I'm actually not that upset about Sirius; I didn't even know him until I met him last summer. I just refuse to accept the fact that the wizarding world's only hope to defeat Lord Voldemort lies solely upon the shoulders of a boy who can't seem to stop wallowing in his own god damned self misery. _Ginny put on her best sad face and replied "I know mum, but I just feel so awful for Harry; he doesn't have any loving family left." Mrs. Weasley thankfully did not pursue the subject any farther and went back into the kitchen to continue washing the dishes from family members who had already had their breakfast.

"Oh Ginny dear? I'm going to Diagon Alley today to pick up some new robes for you; but I'm afraid all I can afford is some second-hand robes." "Great, mum; thanks" said Ginny sourly. _Why the hell can't I have new robes for a change? I am so fucking sick of second-hand crap and hand me-downs! Fred and George have a successful business; why the hell can't mum accept their money? Damn her pride! _Ginny thought angrily; it was true that Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was doing a terrific business, but Mrs. Weasley had always kept turning down gold from the twins when they offered it up. Ginny quickly swallowed the rest of her cereal and orange juice then quickly went up stairs to her room before anyone else could stop her. She wanted to open that letter up before anyone else could see it; where as half an hour ago, she was terrified of what the letter might contain, she now had a sort of morbid curiosity as to its contents. She strode over to her desk and took out a knife with which to open the envelope and began to read with a mixture of utter shock and a feeling of grim pleasure at its contents:

_To Miss Virginia Anne Weasley:_

_Your presence is required at approximately 9:00 P.M. at the edge of the High Square on 26th July. Lord Voldemort himself has directly commanded your presence; he wishes for you to serve him and become a Death Eater. Do not tell anyone else about this note or you shall be promptly murdered. By opening this letter, you have bound yourself in a magical contract and will now be expected to follow it accordingly. Failure to do so will also result in your untimely death._

Ginny did not know what to make of this information. She read and re-read the letter to make sure her eyes were not playing tricks on her; she was requested by Lord Voldemort himself and he wished for her to serve him and to become a Death Eater? _I may have jokingly tossed that idea around in my head; but I never really had any intention of crossing over to the Dark Side! Did Voldemort probe my mind or else see these thoughts float around? _Ginny thought miserably to herself _ Now that I opened that letter, I'm bound to a magical contract and I'm expected to show up? _Ginny spent the better part of the afternoon kicking these thought around in her head before she reached her conclusion. _I might as well show up; I'm bound now, oh why did I open the letter? Never mind, I know now what I must do; I will become a Death Eater and I will loyally serve Voldemort _she thought as a sinister smile spread across her lips _At least I'll get some new robes for a change!_

At that same time, Hermione had finally managed to get back into her room after what seemed like an eternity. Her mother had asked for her help in cleaning the attic as it was getting dangerously cramped and full of junk. It was very hot and dusty in the attic, but they had managed to have a bit of fun while they were working as they had come across a bunch of old photo albums from past family vacations. They spent the better part of a couple of hours looking through these photos and reminiscing. They had also come across an entire boxful of old schoolwork from Hermione's days in Muggle public school, as well as a book about the Salem Witch Hunt which also had quite a bit of information on different people from American Colonies who had been accused of "witchcraft and openly practicing Satanistic rituals." 

Hermione's hair was still damp from the shower when she sat down on her bed and began to read the book. As she read through, she slowly grew sickened by the graphic illustrations that showed villagers subjecting those they deemed witches to not only torture but trials that only a witch could survive; such as burning at the stake or otherwise simply throwing the subject in question off a cliff to see if they would survive or fall to "a very untimely and honorable Christian death" as the book stated_. Stupid paranoid Muggles! _Hermione thought viciously; but at that moment, her attention was drawn from her book to the mysterious letter that sat upon her desk. She suddenly remembered that she had decided to open it and see what it has to say; so with a surge of confidence, she slowly crossed over to the desk and tore open the letter and began to read. As her eyes darted back and forth across the parchment, her mouth hung open and she could feel her heart begin to hammer against her chest. She re-read the letter to make sure it was not a sick joke:

_To Miss Hermione Lynn Granger:_

_Your presence is requested at approximately 9:00 P.M. on 25th July at the edge of Camden Village square. Lord Voldemort himself has directly requested your presence at this time; he wishes for you to serve him and become a Death Eater. Do not tell anyone about this letter or you will be promptly murdered. By opening this letter, you have bound yourself in a magical contract and will be expected to follow it accordingly. Failure to do so will also result in your untimely murder._

Hermione quickly processed this information in her mind and wondered if she somehow shared a connection to Voldemort; had he probed her thoughts and sensed all her negative thoughts last night? After a few minutes, she had also come to her conclusion: _I will shed my muggle upbringing and become a Death Eater; it just may be the winning side after all!_


	2. Surprise Apologies and Plans for a Night...

Harry Potter shot out of bed unceremoniously in the middle of the night and wiped the sweat off his face; his scar was burning painfully. He knew at once through his scar that Voldemort was extremely happy about something; but what was it? He tried hard to recall the images in his mind that were connecting with the pain in his forehead: He was sitting on a high backed chair, surrounded by at least a hundred death eaters. _Where did he get all those Death Eaters? _Harry thought "Well, my loyal servants, it seems that the first part of my plan has worked wonders; the two new recruits have opened the letters and they will be joining us very shortly; unless they wish to be murdered, and soon; a third recruit will also be coming to us soon" hissed Voldemort evilly. The circle of Death Eaters all laughed as one until a familiar voice spoke up: "My Lord, when will they be joining us?" it was the familiar drawl of Lucius Malfoy. "The first shall be joining us in a few days, she will be initiated and will begin training. The second will also join us in a few days as well; they will be training together and hopefully before the end of August, they will be among you in my inner circle. These recruits possess great power and I will stop at nothing to make sure that they will remain forever on our side. My third recruit will most likely take awhile to come around, however."

Who was Voldemort talking about? Harry decided not to dwell on that too much; he really didn't like to dwell on many things these days, not since his godfather Sirius Black had died. That was one thing, however, he could not stop dwelling on. Ever since it had happened, he tried to distance himself from everyone else. The Dursleys had just about completely ignored him ever since he came back from King's Cross; which suited Harry just fine, although he suspected that they were ignoring him in the fear that he would call Moody, Tonks or Lupin on them. He mainly just stayed in his room only leaving to go to the bathroom, his Aunt Petunia would shove his food under the catflap in his door (he had requested her to do it). Sometimes, Harry would be prone to periods where he just lay flat on his bed lost in his thoughts; thoughts such as _If only I had studied Occlumency harder, Sirius would still be alive! _Or he would lose himself in thoughts of the prophecy _How the hell am I supposed to be the one to kill Voldemort? I can't even shut my god damned mind to Voldemort! _It was like this every single day of the summer break; even letters from his best friends couldn't cheer him up; even though Ron and Hermione wrote to him regularly, he felt that he didn't even want anything to do with them. How they could not blame him for putting their own lives in danger?

Meanwhile; a few miles away in downtown Surrey, a tall girl with dark black hair stepped out of the shower to get ready for bed. Cho Chang was a very pretty girl who was in her last year at Hogwarts. However, she had quite a few other things on her mind recently; she had heard of what happened at the Ministry of Magic a month ago and while she was glad that some of Voldemort's supporters were locked up; she couldn't help thinking about Harry for some odd reason. True, they had a pretty good falling out in the last month or so of the term; she still wasn't sure that she could stay mad at him _or _Hermione Granger for that matter. If it weren't for Marietta spilling the beans to Umbridge about the D.A., they would have most likely been able to keep it up. The lessons were actually fun and Harry was a great teacher, she had to admit. Of course, it was also thanks to this that she had achieved 112% on her Defense Against The Dark Arts final exam and catapulted her to the top of her year; not only that, she was also one of the top three students in the school along with Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley. Of course, she could have probably achieve that on her own; she wasn't the top in her class six years running for nothing. She decided that she would take a chance in writing to Harry, at least to apologize. Only problem was, she didn't know his address!

_Don't be so stupid Cho! _she chided herself; her owl was a terrific tracker and could probably find Harry if she asked it to. _Well, it's worth a shot! _she thought as she took out a piece of parchment and carefully began to write:

_Dear Harry,_

_ I know that I am the last person you would expect a letter from, seeing as how we had a pretty good row at the end of the term. I just wanted to write this letter to tell you that I am sorry. I know that you most likely will toss this letter aside because you probably don't believe me at all; and I can't say that I don't blame you. But before you do, please hear me out! I was still a little upset that your friend Hermione Granger used that strange jinx of hers, whatever it was after our argument, but I got to thinking. _

_ I know that you are angry at Marietta for selling us all out and also you must be still be angry at me for sticking up for her, but truth be told; if our roles were reversed, I am sure you would still stick up for your friends. Anyway, that's not why I'm writing; like I said, after our row, I got to thinking about what Marietta had done. I have to tell you now that I really did enjoy being apart of the D.A. and I am sure if Marietta had kept her mouth shut we could have kept it up; you really were a great teacher! But back to the point; after wards, even though she was still in the infirmary, she kept going on about how she did the Ministry a great service and that her parents were going to be rewarded for it. _

_ I asked her if she even cared in the slightest about screwing up the D.A. and our chance to learn real Defense from someone who faced Voldemort before; and she said that she didn't give a damn, she could care less about you and your "make-believe fantasies" about Voldemort and that she did not for one single moment believe that Voldemort was back. Well, this set me off; and you think we had a good row? Not even! _

_ I flat out told her that if you and Dumbledore believed it; then I believed it and that was that and besides, you told me yourself that he was the one who murdered Cedric; I am inclined to believe it then! I told myself that I have been to hard on you; always talking about Cedric when I'm sure you did not want to relive that particular night, and I am sure that me crying all the time was a bit annoying too! _

_ The truth is, Harry; I really did like you a lot and I was honestly upset after our row, I wanted to get to know you better instead of just the Boy Who Lived. I guess that I should stop there, I feel like I am going to ramble on some more; I guess that all I wanted to say was: I'm sorry for losing it with you, I wish that I could have realized what Marietta actually did and exactly how she felt about you before I confronted you. I really hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me; if not, I completely understand. I would at least hope that we could have a bit of a truce between us._

_Cho Chang_

_ That looks good _she thought as she tied the parchment to her owl's leg. "This is for Harry Potter, make sure you find him!" she commanded as the owl hopped of its ledge and began flying away. Little did Cho know, that very same Harry Potter lived a stone's throw away, thus she was surprised when she woke up the next morning to see her owl pecking away impatiently at her window with another parchment tied to its leg.

"Wow, you must be faster than I thought!" Cho praised the owl and then did a double take when she saw that Harry actually lived just outside of Surrey! _Weird! _she thought as she opened the envelope up to read the letter. She was a bit nervous, as she did not know what to expect him to write; she figured that he would probably be very angry at her still so she began to read, expecting the absolute worst; but what she read had made her cry:

_Dear Cho,_

_ You're right; you are the last person that I would have expected owl post from. Needless to say, after our row, I was greatly inclined to just toss your letter in the bin. However, my curiosity got the better of me, so I did read your letter. I want you to know right now that I am accepting your apology, I couldn't possibly stay mad at you forever; although, now I am positive that I will never forgive Marietta! I had no idea that she felt that way about me and Dumbledore. I still do not know what jinx it was that Hermione used, but no offense, I hope it stays with Marietta. I am also touched by the fact that even after all that, you still thought of me as a good teacher; and I could not help but notice that you scored the highest of your whole class on your DADA exams! I will not take any credit for our member's successes on exams, O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s. That was not the main point of the D.A.; it was to protect you from what could happen if you came across a Dark witch or wizard._

_ As far as the whole Cedric thing goes, I am sorry if I seemed insensitive about it, but you pegged it; I didn't mind talking about him, but I did not want to have to go through with retelling that night again; it was a very painful night (not only seeing Cedric die, but being put through the Cruciatus Curse twice). I know now exactly how you must have felt about someone close to you dying, as I have also just recently lost someone who was very close to me just a month ago. I'm sure that by now, you've heard about the events at the Ministry; well, I was somewhat involved in that battle (not by choice, but such things are never by choice). I'm sure you have also read about Sirius Black being on the run? Well, he was my godfather and he never committed the crimes for which he was accused. My parents saw it fit to appoint him as my guardian in case something happened to them; he would take care of me. They also knew that Voldemort was after them so they had a secret-keeper to hide their location. That was Sirius; but at the last moment, Sirius requested that they switch with another friend, Peter Pettigrew. He figured that since he was from a dark family line, that he was too likely. They never figured that Peter would betray them._

_ Well anyway, Sirius was framed and was in hiding since then. I finally met him in my third year and instantly, he became the father that I couldn't remember. Last month, his own cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange murdered him right in front of my own eyes. I do not know how close you and Cedric were, but in the time that I knew Sirius and was around him, I couldn't be separated. Now that he's gone, I don't have anyone else who could possibly fill that void. Anyway, you should have never gotten the idea that I thought your crying was annoying; I have been doing quite a bit of it myself; it is a natural part of grieving and we are truly human when we can experience these pains (as Dumbledore told me). Getting your letter and seeing that you wish to make up and possibly rekindle our friendship has given me a ray of sunshine in one of my darker periods._

_Looking forward to actually getting to know you better,_

_Harry_

Cho held back tears as she noticed the last paragraph had been most likely smudged by tears. _He was put through the Cruciatus twice? He saw Cedric get killed? No wonder he didn't want to talk about it! _she thought. Well, she took the risk and it was worth it, Harry forgave her and she forgave him; maybe there was hope after all!

Cho decided that what they needed to do was to talk about these things and get to know each other more. After all, if they were going to be friendly again; they really had to be open with each other. She took another piece of parchment and scribbled another note to Harry on it:

_Harry,_

_ Thanks for accepting my apology, you don't know how much it meant to me! I noticed by your reply, that you also lived in Surrey (yes I live in Surrey too). I wondered if you would maybe like to get together to hang out, I know of some really good muggle clubs and shops in downtown. It would help to take your mind off of things; and on that topic, I am so sorry about your loss! While Cedric and I were close, it seems as though Sirius Black was like another father figure to you and that sort of loss is a very tough loss to take! I know this because my uncle was killed by Death Eaters a few years ago; he was also like a second father to me. If you would rather not take me up on the offer, I would again understand. Either way, please send my owl back with a reply as soon as you can! If you do agree, how does the 25th sound?_

_Cho_

Harry had indeed been caught off guard by the sudden appearance of that strange owl on his window ledge, even more so when he saw that the letter was from Cho. So it was a near miracle that Harry didn't have a heart attack when the same owl came back with a reply less than an hour later. _No way it could've made the delivery that fast! _he thought to himself as he pulled off the parchment and began to read. At first, his jaw dropped; Cho Chang lived in Surrey? No wonder the owl is so fast! Once Harry had finished with Cho's letter, his mouth was again hanging open. She wanted him to get together with her; go to clubs (whatever that was); he pondered for a moment what he should do. True it would get his mind off of more unpleasant things, but how would he get out? _Oh well, the Dursleys won't give a damn about me being gone for the night! _he thought to himself. That settled, Harry decided that he would accept her offer; after all she had extended the olive branch and now wanted to go out with him, even if it wouldn't be considered a date. Besides, she had gone through a painful loss before, so Harry felt that they at least had that in common. 

Harry quickly took out a spare piece of parchment and carefully wrote down a response: 

_Cho,_

_You're welcome; and sorry for that loss (even though it was a few years ago, I know it probably takes a while to go away). I would love to hang out with you on the 25th, it would probably do me good to stop moping around and get on with my life! I do not know my way around Surrey, so how about I meet you at the edge of town; it's not too far from where I live and anyway, it sounds like you already know your way around! How does 7:00 P.M. sound? Look forward to seeing you then!_

_Harry_

Harry was now in high spirits, he hadn't felt this happy since before the events in the Department of Mysteries unfolded. Immediately, Harry looked around for something good to wear; he silently cursed the Dursley's for forcing Dudley's old clothes on him. However, he remembered that he had been shopping in Hogsmeade the last time he was allowed; he had got himself a few nice shirts and a couple pairs of slacks. At the time he wondered why he did it, but now he was extremely pleased with himself at his foresight. He shuddered to think of what Cho would say if he showed up wearing clothes that were at least three times to big for him! However, little did Harry know that on that very same night, two of his best friends were going to betray him in the worst possible way.


End file.
